Antique cars returning to Standish for second year

Model As and Ts filled the Standish Historical Depot parking lot during the inaugural antique car show June 30, 2012. The 2013 show will be hold at Richardson Ford July 13, on US-23 in Standish.

7/5/13

STANDISH — The Standish Model A and Model T Show returns July 13 at Richardson Ford on US-23, and organizer Curt Hillman is expecting it to be bigger than its inaugural show last year.

The biggest change involves moving the show from the Standish Historical Depot to the auto dealer’s parking lot, but Hillman said it was a move based on necessity.

“We’re going to do it at Richardson’s just so we have room to do it,” he said. “Last year we had 57 registered vehicles, and I may have been able to fit in three more and that was it. I heard from some of the car clubs that were there that they’d bring more people this year, and I knew I had to move over to someplace I could expand.”

Larry Richardson, owner of the dealership, thought it was a great idea, and Hillman said the neighboring Shopko has given permission for spectators and attendees to use its parking lot for the show.

Hillman is anticipating around 75 vehicles this year, with the restriction that they must have been built in or before 1931 — the year Model A production ended. So far he said he only has Ford vehicles confirmed, but is “quite certain” that an antique fire truck and the same 1929 Chevrolet car from last year’s show will be there.

Vehicles will be coming from across the Lower Peninsula, he said — with cars coming from as far as Alpena, Cadillac and the Ohio border region — with several more being shown by area residents.

“I just talked to a gentleman last night that won a national award for his restorations when the Henry Ford Museum has their competitions, and he’s bringing his 1924 Model T Touring,” Hillman said. “So we’ve got some nice stuff coming, right down to ones coming in from the chicken coops, so to speak.”

“We’ve got a number of local cars that weren’t in the show last year that I’ve been able to talk to and get (the owners) to come in, so it’ll be nice to see some local cars that haven’t been on display in quite some time,” he added.

The Best of Show awards for cars and trucks will return, with a new category as well: a speedster class. Hillman said that award is open to people who have taken Model As and Ts and turned them into hot rods, but kept the old engines rather than replacing them with a newer one like a V8.

He is also planning on serving sloppy Joes for lunch and will have ice cream available in the afternoon. Both of those are free for people who have registered their vehicles, while spectators will have to pay a fee that Hillman has not yet determined.

The show will begin at 10 a.m. — though Hillman expects vehicles to begin arriving around 8 a.m. — and will run until around 4 p.m. The awards ceremony should take place sometime between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., he said. Period dress is also encouraged. There is no entry fee.

The show was originally created to give owners of these vintage cars a place to show them off, as Hillman told the Independent in 2012 that they are frequently overshadowed at larger car shows by newer vehicles. Since the vehicles were around during the heyday of the Standish Historical Depot, he believed it made sense to hold the first show there.